The Butterfly Effect
by my own patronus
Summary: Rory visits the members of the New Directions when some of them wish things could have gone differently in their lives. Based off of Artie's dream sequence from "Glee, Actually". Glee belongs to Ryan Murphy/FOX.
1. Artie

Slight warnings for talk of suicide and bullying. Nothing graphic.

Everything belongs to Ryan Murphy/Fox

* * *

Artie wakes up in the nurse's office and rubs his eyes. Something seems … off. He can't quite put his finger on it, but it's an unfamiliar feeling, one that Artie has almost forgotten. A voice from his side makes him jump, and that's when he realizes what's different.

"Hello Artie," an accented male voice says.

When Artie starts, his legs jerk and he freezes. He's not sure which is supposed to surprise him more – that Rory is back from Ireland or that his legs just moved of their own accord.

He tries wiggling a toe. Then bending a knee. Soon, he has swung his legs over the side of the bed and is facing Rory.

"What are you doing here, Rory?" he asks. "And _what _is going on?"

Rory smiles sadly. "You wished that you never ended up in your chair. So here you are. No chair."

"What are you _talking _about?"

"Come on, Artie, I granted your wish. What more do you want?"

"Maybe a bit more explanation?"

Rory sighs. "I'm your … guardian angel. Kinda. Right now, I'm just taking the form of your old friend Rory. Not that you were ever actually friends with him in this timeline."

"What?"

"It's a long story, Artie. Because you weren't in that chair, you were never ridiculed or teased. You joined the football team your freshman year and became friends with the jocks. You teased the outsiders and the freaks with them."

"What about glee club?"

"Glee club never happened. There were never enough people, and there was no one trying to make it work. So when Rory was on exchange and staying with Brittany's family last year, you teased him along with all the other jocks. He didn't even try to get his visa extended because he was so miserable here."

By now, they've left the office and are wandering the halls. They pass Puck in the hallway who fist bumps Artie and asks him if he'll be joining him when they TP the freak's house.

"Why is Puck still here?"

"Without glee club, there was no one who believed in him or helped him. He failed his senior year."

Next, Artie spots Tina. He walks up to her, to see if she's changed, but she just stutters at him and runs away.

"Tina never gained the confidence to stop stuttering."

Artie flinches as he hears a body collide with a locker. He's shocked when he sees that it's Kurt who is falling to the ground.

"Why is _Kurt _here? He had great grades!"

"Kurt missed most of his junior and senior years because the bullying got to be too much. He only went to school part time."

"What about everyone else – Rachel, Santana, Brittany, Finn, Mike, Mercedes, Sam, Quinn?"

"Let's see. Rachel is at Lima Community College. Brittany's still here, but she'll probably never graduate because there's no one willing to help her. Santana dropped off the map immediately after graduation. Finn barely graduated and went into the army. No one's heard from him since. Mike never had the confidence to follow his dreams of becoming a dancer, so he's pre-med at Stanford. Mercedes is at LCC, too. Sam … he's still stripping to help support his family. Rachel and Finn never rescued him from there, and no one helped him when his family first became homeless. Quinn … Quinn died. She was texting and driving, and her luck ran out."

Artie was freaking out by the time Rory finished speaking. "What? No, this can't actually be happening! Rory, please, tell me this isn't real!"

"I'm sorry, Artie, but it's what you wished for. You wanted to walk. You became popular and now you throw toilet paper at Kurt's house on a weekly basis."

That made something click in Artie's brain. "What about Blaine? He wouldn't have let the bullies chase Kurt away! Where is he?"

Artie spins around, as if expecting to see Blaine walking down the hallway in his bow ties and short pants.

"Blaine's not part of this story, Artie. There was no glee club, so Kurt never visited Dalton. Even if he had, though, he wouldn't have met Blaine."

"What? How does _this_," Artie says, indicating his legs, "have anything to do with Blaine going to Dalton?"

"In the other timeline, Blaine's parents read a newspaper article about two parents who very nearly lost their young son in a car accident. A son who was Blaine's age. Blaine's parents vowed to always be close with their son and to protect him. But in this timeline, Blaine never had a close relationship with his parents. They couldn't accept him when he came out to them. He was so ashamed that he hid all the bullying at his old school from them. They didn't know what to do after he was beaten up at the dance, so he returned to his old school. Four months later, Blaine killed himself because he couldn't take it any more."

"So, you're saying that because I can walk – Blaine and Quinn had to die? And Kurt had to fear for his life every time he walked into the building? And Sam lost his future?"

"None of this is your fault, Artie. 'A butterfly flaps its wings in Brazil, and a tornado tears through Texas.'"

"Please, Rory, _please_ just make everything go back to normal!"

"But you won't be able to walk," Rory says.

"I don't care! I'd give up walking just to have my friends back the way they're supposed to be. Sure, Rachel annoys the hell out of me, but she's _talented_, and she deserves to be at NYADA! And Tina deserves to be noticed and happy! And Blaine and Quinn – they can't – I mean – _PLEASE_!"

Rory smiles slightly at Artie and nods.

* * *

A split second later, Artie is waking up on the cot in the nurse's office again. He tries to move his legs and sighs in relief when they don't budge.

He manages to maneuver himself back into his chair. When his picks up his backpack, he notices that it weighs more. He looks inside to find a jar of peanut butter. Scrawled on the label, there is a note that says:

_Dear Artie,  
Remember – you are more than you think you are. You are the glue that holds everyone together. P.S. Thanks for the wings!  
Love, Rory_

The school bell rings overhead, dismissing everyone from class.


	2. Blaine

**Someone suggested that I continue "The Butterfly Effect" with other characters, and I felt like writing more Blangst, so here's Blaine's wish. I'll try to write a few other characters' too, but it could be a while.**

**Warning: self-harm**

* * *

Blaine didn't put a lot of stock in wishes. Sure, he was a dreamer, but he believed in hard work. He knew that he would never be handed something "just because". He knew he had to work hard to earn everything he had.

And he did. He worked hard last year to finally gain Finn's approval. He worked hard as a back-up in the Warblers before becoming their front man. He worked hard to maintain a civil relationship with his parents.

But despite all this, he would still sometimes find himself curled up in bed late at night and covered in a layer of sweat after having just violently come out of a nightmare. And in these terrifying, lonely, dark moments, Blaine would close his eyes and wish harder than anything else.

_"I wish I had never asked Andy to the Sadie Hawkins dance. I wish we never went and never got beat up and Andy never moved away."_

* * *

The morning after one such nightmare, Blaine woke up. It was late December, and he was excited about the Christmas duet he had planned with Tina for glee club that afternoon. But something felt ... off about his room.

It took Blaine a few minutes to realize what it was: all the pictures of Kurt had disappeared from his nightstand. And from his wall. The pictures of the Warblers were gone too. In fact, there were _no _pictures on Blaine's walls at all. Gone also were his polo and fencing trophies, his old Dalton flag, and his McKinley yearbook. On his desk, instead, was a messy pile of books and papers.

Still confused, Blaine got up and showered, hoping everything would return to normal when he was slightly more awake.

Despite all the minute details that Blaine noticed in his bedroom, he didn't notice the one big change in his bathroom.

When Blaine returned to his room, everything was still missing. The biggest shock, however, was his closet. In place of his colorful pants and sweaters and his large collection of bow ties was a collection of dark t-shirts and jeans. There were a few cardigans and sweatshirts, but they were all muted colors.

"What the hell is going on?" Blaine muttered out loud.

"Ah, I thought you'd never ask," a voice lilted from behind him.

Blaine spun around sharply, almost falling over his feet. Before him, impossibly, stood Rory.

"Rory?" Blaine asked, completely dumbfounded. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm granting your wish."

"My wish?"

"Last night, you wished that you'd never gone to the Sadie Hawkins dance," Rory explained.

"I don't get it... Is this some kind of elaborate joke? Like you flew all the way from Ireland to take down my pictures and mess with my closet because - I don't know, you're pissed that I cheated on Kurt?"

"It's got nothing to do with that, Blaine. Because you never cheated on Kurt."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that you never cheated on Kurt because Kurt was never your boyfriend. In fact, Kurt doesn't even know you exist."

Blaine almost fell over. "What's going on, Rory?"

* * *

Blaine was absolutely terrified to be walking the halls of Westerville High School again. But according to Rory, this was something that he needed to do.

"Back in your freshman year of high school, Westerville hosted a Sadie Hawkins dance. Instead of going, you and Andy went to the movies," Rory explained as Blaine walked through a hostil hallway. More than once was he slammed into lockers. It was not an experience that he missed. "You never got beaten up. You both stayed at Westerville. Nothing changed."

"Where is Andy now?" Blaine asked. He felt like he was betraying Kurt by so badly wanting to see his old crush, but it had been a long time since Blaine had last laid eyes on the other boy.

"Probably hiding out in a classroom until the hallways clear up and it's safer to walk to class," Rory said.

Blaine felt his heart constrict. Although he hadn't seen Andy since the dance, they had talked a few times. Andy had mentioned how his new school in Boston was so much better than Westerville. He even had a boyfriend by the end of freshman year. But because of Blaine's action - or inaction - Andy never got that.

"Did Andy and I - I mean, are we - ?" Blaine stumbled over the words.

"Are you together?" Rory asked. "No. Neither one of you wanted to do anything that might jeopardize your friendship or safety in the school, so you stayed friends."

"And what about Kurt?"

Rory looked a little bittersweet. "He spied on the Warblers. Had coffee with Wes and David. But he didn't find the same comfort that you had provided. So he stayed at McKinley. He confronted Karofsky and got kissed. Karofsky was expelled and then allowed back in. Junior year was tough for him, but it finally got better when he met Chandler at the music shop. They started dating, but broke up after a month in New York. Both boys wanted something different. Kurt was working hard at Vogue and Chandler was swamped with his schoolwork."

"So, Kurt's fine without me?"

"No," Rory said. "Because even though he seemed happy enough with Chandler, I never once saw Kurt smile at him the way he used to smile at you."

Blaine opened his mouth to respond but was shoved into the lockers more forcefully than before. He fell to the ground with a barely stifled sob.

"It's like, all those feelings from back then came back to me in full force today," he admitted to Rory when the younger boy helped him up. "I thought that if the dance didn't happen, thing would be better. I wouldn't feel so guilty and weak all the time."

"Let me show you something," Rory said.

The halls were almost empty as Rory led Blaine to a bathroom across the school. When Blaine opened the door, the occupant jumped back in surprise, dropping something into the sink.

"Blaine!" the boy gasped.

Blaine could only look at Andy in shock. Andy was no longer the confident and smiley boy that Blaine remembered. He was thin, his hair was stringy, and his skin was pale. But that wasn't the worst part. The worst part was the blood leaking down Andy's arm and falling into the sink. The blood that dripped from the edge of a silver razor blade. The blood that Andy tried to hide.

"Andy," Blaine whispered. "What - How long?"

Andy drew in a shuddering breath, trying to fight the tears. "A while, Blaine," he admitted quietly.

"Why didn't you tell me? I could have helped you!"

"Come on, Blaine," Andy said weakly. "We both get too much shit to have to be hovering over each other, too."

"Please," Blaine begged, "let me help."

Without waiting for a reply, Blaine dampened a paper towel and wiped it over Andy's arm. He wrapped another over the newest cuts, trying to ignore the many other scars and the guilt gnawing at his stomach, and created a makeshift bandage.

When Blaine was done, he wrapped Andy in a tight hug.

"I'm so sorry," Blaine whispered to his friend. "This is all my fault. If I had just - been less selfish. If I had just asked, if I had just _noticed_ -"

"Blaine," Andy cut him off. "I didn't want you to notice. I know how hard you try to make this place feel less like hell, and I didn't want you to feel any extra pressure. This isn't your fault."

"It is," Blaine whispered, letting a sob loose. "I just wish I hadn't even made that wish in the first place! I wish I had asked you to than damn dance!"

It all happened very quickly. Blaine could see Rory grin from his reflection in the mirror. The Irish boy raised a hand, and suddenly Blaine was waking up in another cold sweat on his bed.

It took him a few minutes to catch his breath and get a sense of his bearings. Once he noticed all his photos of Kurt were back in place, Blaine's heart slowed down. He reached over to his night stand and picked up his phone.

_I know we haven't talked much lately, but I just want to say that I miss you and I'm glad we got out of there. Merry early Christmas, Andy._


End file.
